


Nick & Takeo - #17 - Belief

by zosimos (trismegistus)



Series: Tobira no Mukou e [13]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-31
Updated: 2010-05-31
Packaged: 2017-10-09 20:07:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/91084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trismegistus/pseuds/zosimos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt #17 of 50</p><p>
  <i>"Whatever is was that Issac was trying to transmute walked out of the circle unaided."</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nick & Takeo - #17 - Belief

Takeo rubbed his hand through his hair, not noticing that he was destroying whatever semblance of brushed he had going. The mess was familiar, he knew this transmutation circle by heart now, he had seen several different variations in the last few years.

Ellie was snapping pictures, and the flash was distracting him. "Do you mind?" Takeo said.

"Sorry," Ellie said, not sounding sorry at all. She was very noticeably keeping to the side of the room closest to the door. It was the cleanest, after all. The body was laying back against the wall on the far side. There was blood pooled on the ground around the alchemist, destroying the integrity of the circle entirely.

There had been a sudden rise in idiot alchemists trying to play god. It was unprecedented; in part because they didn't survive the foolish transmutation attempt. In the past, there were only a few instances of people attempting human transmutation and they were brushed under the rug. A missing limb or eyes could be explained away as a war wound. Now, there were organs missing. Vital organs. The alchemists in question usually died a very painful death within moments of activating the transmutation; and the transmutation failed anyway. It always did.

The curious thing here was that there was no remnant of whatever it was this alchemist was trying to transmute. Takeo scuffed the heel of his military boot through the chalk, destroying more lines before he felt comfortable stepping on to the circle. You never just blindly walked onto an array, that would never end well.

The center of the circle was completely empty. Takeo stood in the center of the transmutation circle and frowned. There was the hint that something HAD been there, but whatever it was was gone now. "Hey," he said as Ellie took another picture of the array. "Didn't Issacs live alone?"

"Yup," she said, not lowering the camera. "No living relatives, either. Who do you think he was trying to transmute?"

"No telling." Takeo crouched on the circle, putting his fingers on the chalk lines. "But someone took the evidence."

"And left his body?"

"Either that or the evidence got up and walked out on its own." Takeo rubbed his face, exhaling. "Which is actually a possibility." Now that he was looking at it the right way, he could see the footprints. They were close together at first, as if whoever made them had to get their bearings. "Fuck."

"Do you think Issacs made a homunculus?" Ellie lowered her camera and frowned at Takeo. "How is that even possible, without a Stone?"

"They have some limited range of movement even before they're fed the Stone," Takeo said. "It could have staggered out of here and been picked up by anybody." He straightened. "Can you get a few more pictures of the circle? I'll call the MPs to take care of that mess." Takeo waved at the body sitting up against the wall.

Once he had passed his qualifying State Alchemist tests, General Mustang had asked to handle his assignment personally. Takeo was wary of that, but Mustang wanted him on the reported attempts of human transmutation, since they were on the rise. Takeo was uniquely positioned to work on those cases, because he knew a lot of what the military still considered confidential - without having to have the files declassified.

The first time he had investigated one of these transmutations he had been sick for a week. The alchemist hadn't been reported missing for a while and the body had significant time to fester and decompose. That had been almost half a year ago, it was disturbing how quickly he got used to it. He would never be truly immune, but at least now he didn't have nightmares after.

Several MPs were waiting outside of the single level house in the yard. The mysterious light of a massive transmutation had been reported by neighbors, which had brought Takeo out on his day off. "I'm done, Ellie's still taking a few photographs," he told the head MP. The man saluted him (Takeo would NEVER get used to that) and instructed several of his men inside.

Nick was leaning against the pillar of the low fence that separated the yard from the street outside. He was dressed in blue military trousers and a white button-up shirt, his jacket somewhere else. He raised an eyebrow at Takeo, his arms crossed. "Another one, huh?"

Takeo ran a hand through his hair and blew out a breath. "That's the fifth this month," he said.

Nick whistled, low. "What is going on, any ideas?"

"None yet." Nick had never bothered with the State Alchemist's exam, while he excelled at alchemy he preferred not to be burdened with the title. It was too uncomfortable for him, he was still mistaken as Edward fairly regularly. However, Mustang had pulled some strings after they had both vanished into the desert for several months and got Nick in under his command in a "consulting" position. Consulting for /what/ neither of them had any idea, but it gave Nick a military salary just like Takeo and that kept them both fed and housed. "But you'll understand this."

Nick raised an eyebrow.

"Whatever it was that Issacs was trying to transmute walked out of the transmutation circle."

The expression that crossed Nick's face might have been comical in other circumstances. "You're sure? Someone didn't move it?"

"The smearing of the chalk lines indicates footprints. They're only exiting the circle, not entering."

"Shit."

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly."

"Do you think it's connected?" Nick straightened. "The rise in human transmutation, the deaths of the alchemists and this?"

"Well, there were seven and Dante," Takeo said. "Gluttony consumed Dante, Wrath and Gluttony killed each other."

"Edward killed Greed and Sloth," Nick mused.

"Wrath killed Lust, and Mustang killed Pride."

"We're missing Envy."

"Envy was the dragon, remember?" Takeo said. "It was his blood that brought us here."

"Everything connected to that is dead," Nick said. "We've got no trail."

"We don't." Takeo said. "Mustang's not gonna like this."

"I don't blame him, *I* don't like this. Nothing good comes of fucking around with the Gate." Nick held up his right arm. "I'm living proof."

"You're probably the last alchemist to have tangled with the Gate and not died," Takeo said.

Nick bit his bottom lip. "I know," he said quietly. "I've wondered if there's any connection."

"If there was, it would have turned up by now." Takeo put his hand on Nick's shoulder. "This isn't your fault, Nick."

The flash surprised them both, and they looked up to see Ellie grinning behind the camera. "Gotcha."

"Dammit, Ellie," Nick blinked stars out of his eyes. "Don't you ever get tired of that?"

"Nope." She let her camera rest on the strap around her neck and fished around in her camera bag. "The MPs are bagging and tagging the body now," she said. "The chief told me to give you this." She produced a torn piece of paper, stained with blood. "Said it was under his foot."

Takeo took the paper and frowned at its texture, oddly slick. "Strange," he said. Then his eyes widened. "Nick."

Nick took the paper from Takeo. "This feels like a glossy textbook page," he said, his eyes scanning over it. He felt his stomach drop. "This is a textbook page. This is from our maths book, isn't it."

"This is from my bedroom," Takeo said. "In Tokyo."


End file.
